NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Opponents of a waste-transfer facility near LaGuardia Airport have lost their bid to block the facility from being built.

Friends of LaGuardia Airport say the $200 million project could attract more birds around the airport looking for food. The activists lost their court fight on Tuesday.

Ken Paskar, president of the group, said the waste-transfer facility is “a bird magnet” and while bird strikes are rare, it only takes one to cause a major loss of life. Planes can be crippled by hitting birds.

He said the group is considering other legal options to overturn the decision and stop the project.

“We’re disappointed that the court ruled against us. It was on a technical issue, it was not on the merits on the case,” Paskar told 1010 WINS. “We’re hopeful that our attorneys will be able to file papers with the court asking for reconsideration.”

The North Shore Marine Transfer Station is being constructed in College Point, about 2,200 feet across Flushing Bay from Runway 31.